Lubomir Moravcik is willing on Aberdeen in their Premiership title bid, while Greig Laidlaw believes his Scotland team can still win the Six Nations Championship

Today

• Former Celtic star Lubo Moravcik believes Aberdeen’s title challenge is a good thing for his old team but has offered to become Celtic’s Eastern European spy

• Scotland boss Gordon Strachan believes summer friendlies against Italy and France will boost his side's bid to reach 2018 World Cup finals

• SFA confirm they are looking at alternatives to cup draws after dodgy ball fiasco

• Harry Forrester eyes up a unique treble of League, Scottish Cup and... er, the Petrofac Training Cup

• Rangers legend Willie Henderson on Warburton's forward selection headache, Barrie McKay and the title race 

• Tom Boyd signs up to be Celtic ambassador and calls for calm at the club

• Gerry McCabe on how Dundee boss Paul Hartley is destined for the top

• Hibernian Supporters Limited reckon widespread fan ownership in Scottish football is “inevitable” as they celebrate anniversary of their creation

• Nesbitt aiming for spectacular success at Thistle

• Motherwell legend Willie Pettigrew backs Mark McGhee to turn things around

• Tommy O'Hara laid to rest along with his American dream

• Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw insists Scots are quietly confident they can still win the Six Nations

• Former Ireland and Lions captain Paul O’Connell announces retirement from all rugby

• Phil Burleigh agrees new deal at Edinburgh

• World athletics championships suffers significant blow as managing director Sally Bolton quits in wake of internal power struggle

• Ex-tour pro turned commentator Frank Nobilo says 'golf can look to past but needs to appreciate the present' during Royal and Ancient visit

Urging on the Dons

Former Celtic favourite Lubo Moravcik reckons a sustained Aberdeen challenge would be good for his old club

Preparing to take on the world

Scotland boss Gordon Strachan reckons this summer's friendlies against France and Italy will set Scotland up for their forthcoming World Cup qualification bid

Never again

SFA President Alan McCrae has been discussing with his top officials how to ensure there is never a repeat of this week's Scottish draw embarrassment

Eyeing up a treble with a difference

Harry Forrester reckons Rangers can win all the competitions they are still involved in

Ambassadorial figure

Former captain Tom Boyd is appointed an ambassador at the club and says sacking Ronny Deila while they are going for a treble would be daft

Got your back boss

Dundee No.2 Gerry McCabe (left) is backing manager Paul Hartley (right) to do great things in the game

Hands on fans

Hibernian Supporters Ltd reckon they are showing the way forward for fan ownership

Starry eyed youngster

Aidan Nesbitt, on loan to Partick Thistle from Celtic, is hoping to catch the eye

Title chaser?

Greig Laidlaw reckons his Scotland side can still win the Six Nations Championship in spite of being bottom of the table after round one

Pauly gone

Paul O'Connell, one of rugby's greatest ever players, confirms that his career is over

Staying put

Edinburgh's derby winning stand offf Phil Burleigh (left) has agreed new terms to stay at the club and contend with new signing Dunc Weir (right) for the No.10 jersey

Modern thinker

Frank Nobilo has used a Royal and Ancient visit to tell golf it is time to stop living in the past 

06.05 Radio Scotland sports headlines

Ex-Celtic captain Tom Boyd says sacking Ronny Deila while in contention for a double would be ridiculous... Hearts can consolidate third place in Premiership by beating fourth placed Ross County tonight... West Ham claim FA Cup win over Liverpool... Tim Swinson says Scotland have to match Wales' intensity if they are to win in Wales

06.35 Radio Five Live sports headlines

West Ham may have played their last FA Cup tie at Upton Park in spite of reaching the next round with a last gasp defeat of Liverpool... last minute Jordan Rhodes goal takes Middlesbrough back to top of Championship... Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla both score centuries as South Africa ease past England in latest One Day International... Anthony Joshua's next fight could be for a world heavyweight title... Jessica Ennis-Hill's coach Tony Minicello calls for the British Olympic Association to move its holding camp for the Rio games out of Brazil because of fears over Zika virus... Carlisle racing facing an inspection whiule Ludlow already off due to waterloggged track

The Back Pages

Ex-Celtic player Lubo Moravcik features on the back of both The Evening Times, where he is welcoming Aberdeen’s title challenge and The Herald, which focuses on his offer to become a spy on the other side of the old Iron Curtain, while The National leads on rugby and Scotland skipper Greig Laidlaw’s insistence that his team can still contend in this season’s Six Nations in spite of facing three away trips in their remaining four matches

Grandstanding – today’s sports comment

There’s a call for an overhaul of the Six Nations set-up in The National as the case for promotion and relegation is strengthened by Scotland and Italy already finding themselves as the only teams without a point and set to contest the Wooden Spoon once again, while in The Herald Stuart Bathgate notes that an increasing number of Scotland’s players have never been on the winning side in a Six Nations game.

Are Europe's elite Europe afraid of Gorgodzilla?

Mamuka Gorgodze. Georgia's captain (centre with ball), was one of the most impressive figures at this season's World Cup but is being denied a chance of showing his quality in Europe's top rugby competition by the sport's old boys network

Sporting Twitterati

Alternative thinking well received

We welcome the Vine Doctrine enunciated by @theJeremyVine and welcome him to King Power for the last match @LCFC

— Keith Vaz MP (@Keith4Leicester) February 8, 2016

Behind the headlines

They were talking this week down south about Vine Doctrine (alright, hands up, the default in the car is Radio Two) which decrees that if your own football team is out of title contention it is all right to back another club that has a chance. It was prompted by broadcaster and Strictly Come Dancing star (the guilty secrets are pouring out) Jeremy Vine having announced that as a Chelsea supporter who knows his team are out of the English Premier League title race this season, he was switching his affections to Leicester City.

Lubo Moravcik could not quite be accused of the same thing when urging Aberdeen to sustain their bid to upset Celtic in the Scottish Premiership race, but it touched on the same desire to see a bit of a shake up in the competition.

What is significantly different is the back-drop against which these two stories are set. South of the border there is, of course, pressure on manager's of the leading clubs when they are seen to be under-performing, no more stunningly demonstrated than at Vine's Chelsea where Jose Mourinho lost his job within six months of winning the title. However the mood is one of excitement that there is the real possibility of the unexpected happening in the title race as a combination of superb leadership and tight teamwork sees a relatively under-funded club getting the better of those with squads of ten times the paper value.

In gloomy old Scotland the focus seems almost entirely to be upon Ronny Deila yet, while Celtic may not be dominating the domestic game in the way that their resources suggest that they should, his teams remain favourites for the two biggest domestic prizes. Indeed, it is worth noting that what coverage Derek McInnes and Aberdeen do receive became pretty negatively, pretty quickly when they suffered their one slump of the season, with their 'bottle' being repeatedly called into question.

The other element of this is that Celtic desperate need the sort of challenge they are receiving right now, because cruising to Premiership success is going to do little for their bid to become more competitive in Europe.

I was at Lennoxtown earlier in the season when Ronny Deila indicated that he was pleased to be working with players who are aspiring to playing in the English Premiership further down the line, rather than having to deal with those who are already at that level, such as Virgil van Dijk. There are those who will interpret that as defeatist, but as Leicester are demonstrating, there are benefits to having lower valued, but higher motivated players who buy into a collective culture. If they are then pushed all the way this season then it may be just what they need to tighten them up ahead of next season's European Cup campaign.

Then again, most supporters of other clubs could be forgiven if they were pulling for the Dons to be Scotland's representatives in that competition next season.  

Thanks for reading. Back tomorrow with another day's Scottish sports agenda.